[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"$f0vha1CweIrOUFRhdstC0dqb5ut7-haIktZaQvwhzdMM":3},{"article":4,"iocs":52,"watch_terms":53,"solutions":54,"lesson":144},{"id":5,"title":6,"slug":7,"summary":8,"ai_summary":9,"brief":10,"url":11,"image_url":12,"published_at":13,"ingested_at":14,"relevance_score":15,"entities":16,"category_id":29,"category":30,"article_tags":34},"16393e7a-9622-4a4c-9f5f-7e25a16620df","Forgotten AI agents may still access sensitive company data","forgotten-ai-agents-may-still-access-sensitive-company-data-b22df1","AI agents that have not run recently retain credentials and connections to company systems, according to Arrakis Security’s 2026 Autonomous Agents Threat Report. About 76% of enabled agents examined had not run in 60 days, leaving access available through inactive software. Agents by exposure family (Source: Arrakis Security) The analysis covered thousands of agents in customer production environments over a 12-week period. These programs can read and write data, call tools and start workflows, giving … More → The post Forgotten AI agents may still access sensitive company data appeared first on Help Net Security.","A report by Arrakis Security reveals that a significant majority of AI agents, approximately 76%, have not run in 60 days, yet still retain credentials and access to sensitive company data. These dormant agents, some with unsecured triggers, can be activated to perform actions, potentially leading to data exfiltration or unauthorized access. The analysis also found that many agents connect to sensitive services without adequate data loss prevention coverage and possess excessive permissions or never-expiring API keys.","Forgotten AI agents retain credentials and connections to company systems, posing security risks.","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.helpnetsecurity.com\u002F2026\u002F10\u002F26\u002Farrakis-dormant-ai-agent-risks-report\u002F","https:\u002F\u002Fimg.helpnetsecurity.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2025\u002F10\u002F27095223\u002Fai_agents-1500.webp","2026-10-26T05:30:27+00:00","2026-10-26T06:00:07.196345+00:00",7,[17,20,23,26],{"name":18,"type":19},"Arrakis Security","vendor",{"name":21,"type":22},"Autonomous Agents","product",{"name":24,"type":25},"AI","technology",{"name":27,"type":28},"OpenAI\u002FHugging Face incident","campaign","e7b231c8-5f79-4465-8d38-1ef13aea5a14",{"id":29,"icon":31,"name":32,"slug":33},null,"Threat Intelligence","threat-intelligence",[35,40,45,50],{"category":36},{"id":37,"icon":31,"name":38,"slug":39},"26b0b636-0e31-4db1-bffb-61bdf9f20a58","Supply Chain","supply-chain",{"category":41},{"id":42,"icon":31,"name":43,"slug":44},"80544778-fabb-4dcd-aa35-17492e5dcf4f","Vulnerabilities","vulnerabilities",{"category":46},{"id":47,"icon":31,"name":48,"slug":49},"839da5c1-3c34-47e2-9499-f7201640e3ac","AI Security","ai-security",{"category":51},{"id":29,"icon":31,"name":32,"slug":33},[],[18,21],{"controls":55,"vendors":143},[56,85,114],{"slug":57,"name":58,"problem":59,"products":60},"identity-governance","Identity governance and single sign-on","People who leave or change roles lose access everywhere at once, and forgotten accounts stop piling up.",[61,69,77],{"vendor_slug":62,"vendor_name":63,"vendor_logo":64,"product_slug":65,"product_name":66,"url":67,"description":68},"sailpoint","SailPoint","\u002Fvendor-logos\u002Fsailpoint.png","human-fabric","SailPoint Human Fabric","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.sailpoint.com\u002Fproducts\u002Fhuman-fabric","Identity governance platform, the successor to Identity Security Cloud: lifecycle management, access requests and continuous access reviews.",{"vendor_slug":70,"vendor_name":71,"vendor_logo":72,"product_slug":73,"product_name":74,"url":75,"description":76},"microsoft","Microsoft","\u002Fvendor-logos\u002Fmicrosoft.png","entra-id","Microsoft Entra ID","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.microsoft.com\u002Fen-us\u002Fsecurity\u002Fbusiness\u002Fidentity-access\u002Fmicrosoft-entra-id","Cloud identity and access management with single sign-on, conditional access, passkeys and identity governance.",{"vendor_slug":78,"vendor_name":79,"vendor_logo":80,"product_slug":81,"product_name":82,"url":83,"description":84},"okta","Okta","\u002Fvendor-logos\u002Fokta.png","workforce-identity","Okta Workforce Identity","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.okta.com\u002Fproducts\u002Fworkforce-identity\u002F","Single sign-on, adaptive MFA including phishing-resistant methods, and lifecycle management for employees.",{"slug":86,"name":87,"problem":88,"products":89},"secrets-management","Secrets management","API keys, tokens and passwords stop leaking from code, chat and configuration files.",[90,98,106],{"vendor_slug":91,"vendor_name":92,"vendor_logo":93,"product_slug":94,"product_name":95,"url":96,"description":97},"palo-alto-networks","Palo Alto Networks","\u002Fvendor-logos\u002Fpalo-alto-networks.png","idira-secrets-management","Idira Secrets Management","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.paloaltonetworks.com\u002Fidira\u002Fmachine\u002Fsecrets-management","Secrets management for applications, scripts and pipelines, from the former CyberArk portfolio.",{"vendor_slug":99,"vendor_name":100,"vendor_logo":101,"product_slug":102,"product_name":103,"url":104,"description":105},"gitguardian","GitGuardian","\u002Fvendor-logos\u002Fgitguardian.png","gitguardian-platform","GitGuardian Secrets Detection","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.gitguardian.com\u002F","Finds and helps remediate secrets leaked in repositories, CI pipelines and chat tools.",{"vendor_slug":107,"vendor_name":108,"vendor_logo":109,"product_slug":110,"product_name":111,"url":112,"description":113},"github","GitHub","\u002Fvendor-logos\u002Fgithub.png","advanced-security","GitHub Advanced Security","https:\u002F\u002Fgithub.com\u002Fsecurity\u002Fadvanced-security","Dependency review, code scanning and secret scanning with push protection.",{"slug":115,"name":116,"problem":117,"products":118},"data-loss-prevention","Data loss prevention (DLP)","Sensitive data cannot quietly leave by email, upload, USB stick or AI tool.",[119,127,135],{"vendor_slug":120,"vendor_name":121,"vendor_logo":122,"product_slug":123,"product_name":124,"url":125,"description":126},"forcepoint","Forcepoint","\u002Fvendor-logos\u002Fforcepoint.png","forcepoint-dlp","Forcepoint DLP","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.forcepoint.com\u002Fproduct\u002Fdlp-data-loss-prevention","Data loss prevention for endpoints, network, email and cloud applications.",{"vendor_slug":128,"vendor_name":129,"vendor_logo":130,"product_slug":131,"product_name":132,"url":133,"description":134},"netskope","Netskope","\u002Fvendor-logos\u002Fnetskope.png","netskope-dlp","Netskope DLP","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.netskope.com\u002Fproducts\u002Fdata-loss-prevention","Data loss prevention for web, cloud apps, AI tools and endpoints.",{"vendor_slug":136,"vendor_name":137,"vendor_logo":138,"product_slug":139,"product_name":140,"url":141,"description":142},"proofpoint","Proofpoint","\u002Fvendor-logos\u002Fproofpoint.png","enterprise-dlp","Proofpoint Enterprise DLP","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.proofpoint.com\u002Fus\u002Fproducts\u002Fdata-loss-prevention","Data loss prevention across email, cloud and endpoints.",[],{"slug":145,"title":146,"body":147,"framework_refs":148,"framework_notes":156},"dormant-ai-agents-retain-excessive-access-posing-silent-data-risk","Dormant AI Agents Retain Excessive Access, Posing Silent Data Risk","Organizations are deploying AI agents with broad permissions and long-lived API keys, then forgetting about them — leaving 76% idle for over 60 days while still holding valid credentials to sensitive systems. This 'ghost agent' problem mirrors the classic challenge of orphaned service accounts, but with the added risk of unsecured triggers that allow external actors to reactivate dormant agents and initiate actions like data exfiltration. The lack of data loss prevention coverage over these agent connections compounds the exposure. This matters because attackers increasingly target non-human identities, which are often overlooked in access reviews and lack the same scrutiny as human user accounts.",[149,150,151,152,153,154,155],"CIS Control 5: Account Management","NIST CSF 2.0 PR.AA: Identity Management, Authentication, and Access Control","NIST SP 800-53 SI-2: Flaw Remediation","ISO\u002FIEC 27001:2022 A.8.8: Management of technical vulnerabilities","CIS Control 12: Network Infrastructure Management","GDPR Article 32","CIS Control 18: Penetration Testing",{"GDPR Article 32":157,"CIS Control 5: Account Management":158,"CIS Control 18: Penetration Testing":159,"NIST SP 800-53 SI-2: Flaw Remediation":160,"CIS Control 12: Network Infrastructure Management":161,"ISO\u002FIEC 27001:2022 A.8.8: Management of technical vulnerabilities":162,"NIST CSF 2.0 PR.AA: Identity Management, Authentication, and Access Control":163},"If dormant agents with unsecured access exfiltrate personal data, organizations face breach liability; Article 32 requires appropriate technical measures — including access controls and monitoring — to ensure ongoing confidentiality of personal data.","Dormant AI agents with persistent credentials are unmanaged accounts; CIS Control 5 requires organizations to inventoried, disable, and remove unused accounts and credentials, which would have eliminated the standing access of inactive agents.","Regular adversarial testing that includes non-human identity attack paths would surface the risk of reactivating dormant agents with valid credentials, enabling organizations to remediate before real attackers exploit the vector.","Excessive permissions and orphaned credentials represent a systemic configuration flaw; a formal remediation process would identify and correct these over-privileged agent identities before they can be exploited.","Many agents connected to sensitive services without adequate network-layer DLP controls; this control requires that data flows be managed and restricted, limiting an agent's ability to silently exfiltrate data.","Never-expiring API keys and misconfigured agent triggers are technical vulnerabilities that require identification and remediation under this control, which mandates timely action on identified exposure.","The agents retained never-expiring API keys and excessive permissions; this function explicitly calls for managing credentials and enforcing least privilege for all identities, including non-human ones."]